Feeling the cold weight of the handcuffs on his wrists, Sean knew he was screwed. He hadn't revealed anything when he was interrogated. In fact, he had believed he was very convincing in his innocence. Mostly because he was innocent. But the FBI arrested him anyway. Despite his resolve that he didn't kill Kendrick, the feds had him dead to rights. More false evidence must've been planted. The team was unable to stop Amanda, and her full plan had come to fruition. Sean wasn't just screwed, he was dead.
While Sean came to grips with that fact, and tried to think of what he could do to save himself, a man he didn't recognize entered the room. He wasn't another agent; he was a lawyer retained by his sisters. Sean couldn't make sense of that; though, he did appreciate that the cuffs were removed and they were left alone. There were so many questions he had to ask; he needed answers if he was going to survive. But the lawyer only confused him more by pulling out a letter, "From your sisters. They specifically asked that I speak to you first before you read it. They said they want you to have the best legal counsel possible, the Alpha team, on your side."
Taking the letter, Sean didn't know what to say. Why would his sisters write him a letter. Did they know what was going on. Did Alex talk to them. Why did they get him a lawyer that'd specifically mention an Alpha team. Unless, that was Division's doing. The team must've had a plan to get him out of the FBI. It was weird that they weren't in the building, talking to him directly. But they obviously knew more than he did. Staring at the letter his sisters supposedly wrote, Sean was hopelessly confused. He was missing something. Was the team trying to get a message to him, or was that the plan. What was going on, "My sisters sent this?"
"I was told one of them was very adamant about getting you this message," The lawyer didn't know much. It was obvious in the way he responded to Sean; he wished he could ease his confusion, yet he was just as clueless. Sean tried to focus on the letter. The one sister hellbent on sending him a message must've been Nikita. There was something she needed him to read in the letter. However, Sean couldn't make sense of the words. It was a complete ramble of words and numbers. How was he to find meaning in that. If it was some sort of code, he didn't have the key. He remained completely and utterly clueless, until he turned the letter over.
"I think I understand," Staring at the return address, Sean muttered. The address didn't belong to anyone in his family. It was a leading misprint- an order. Division definitely had a plan to break him out of custody, but it all depended on him. He had been arrested for treason and was being held by the FBI. The team couldn't break him out with any of their normal tricks. Something special- and insane- was needed to save him. But it could work as long as he played along. As long as he committed an Article 134, it'd be perfect.
"Good, because I couldn't make much sense of it. They need to know if you agree," The lawyer asked for Sean's input. That stunned him. He didn't know he had a choice in the matter. He had thought the team was ordering him to wound himself so they could break him out. But really, they were asking if he accepted their plan. It was his choice to escape and go on the run. He had some say in what the team did to save him. After all, it was his life on the line. No one would make decisions for him; he had a voice, "Sean? Sean, if you don't give me an answer, I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to leave."
"No. No, no, no. I think I've made up my mind," Sean hurriedly called the lawyer back. He knew the team didn't have a lot of time to pull off their plan. They needed to know if he agreed immediately. Yet he needed another moment to make up his mind. Was he really willing to injure himself to escape the FBI. If he didn't he'd be carted off to jail and be given the death penalty. If he did, he'd be on the run for who knew how long. Could he put himself through that. Better yet, could he put that kind of emotional weight on his family's shoulders. Each option was absolutely horrific for everyone, but at least he'd be alive in one.
Although he didn't want to subject his family to the questions and scrutiny his escape would bring, it was better to be alive than dead. The Pierces had experienced enough death. Sean should do everything he could to ensure that didn't continue. He'd live that day, and hopefully he'd return home on another. He simply had to go through a lot of pain first. Fortunately, he was able to come up with a plan to harm himself fairly quickly. All those years being roped into Nikita's schemes finally paid off. He was ready to go by the time the lawyer asked, "Good. And what shall I tell your sisters?"
It was Michael's idea that they tell Sean to commit an Article 134. He and Nikita returned to Ryan's office as the team was considering what kind of message to send Sean. He suggested that they tell Sean to commit self-injury, using the military's specific code for it. He'd understand what that meant, and they could easily hide the encoded message from anyone else who read the letter. An Article 134 also allowed the team to easily set up his fake death. If he injured himself in just the right way, they could find a way to inject Division's recruitment cocktail while under the guise that they were saving him. It could all work out, if Sean agreed.
Ryan explained that there was a medical kit on each floor of the FBI building. They could tamper with the medicine inside, so whatever efforts were made to save Sean would actually 'kill' him. Nikita was the one to suggest which drug they should replace with the cocktail. She knew that Sean would shoot himself- a gun was the easiest thing to grab in an FBI building. She also knew which supplies in the med kit an agent would use to revive him. She hated sharing those facts; she hated being involved in the plan to recruit her brother. But it was their only choice to save him, so she'd lean into it one hundred percent.
Alex worked with Jill and Sandy to send Sean a lawyer with the letter the team crafted and some other vague messages. She and Nikita then grabbed black badges, the drug cocktails that'd kill then revive Sean, and their weapons, and they lied their way into the FBI building. Getting to the floor Sean was held on and tampering with the medical kit was the easy part. Everything was ready for his extraction- recruitment. The difficult part was waiting for his response. That soon came, unfortunately, with a gunshot.
Both Alex and Nikita had to fight the instinct to go to Sean. They simply had to trust him and the plan. So instead of racing to his side, they went to the morgue. It took a lot of compartmentalizing for the agents to black badge their way in and to convince the lab tech to leave. The two played up the story that they were there to bring the radiated body to the CDC and that no one wanted to be around such danger. It felt like they were completely different people as they joked and charmed their way into the morgue. But it served its purpose. They could then focus entirely on saving Sean.
As soon as they were alone with Sean's unconscious- seemingly dead- body, Nikita and Alex didn't hesitate to start reviving him. Birkhoff was on the coms, walking them through the process he found in Division's files. They had a machine that'd administer the right drug dosages at the right time; the two simply had to make sure it worked perfectly. For the most part, it was. Sean was almost saved. Then, Naomi Ceaver burst into the room. Nikita positioned her body between the analyst and her brother, yet it wasn't effective. Naomi still pulled out her weapon, "Naomi, we're not your enemy. Put the gun down, please."
"Oh, this? It's not for you," Naomi's shock at seeing Alex and Nikita hovering over Sean's body instantly dissolved into a smirk. Before the agents could react, the analyst trained her weapon at the device saving Sean and shot it. The vials completely shattered. Whereas Alex panicked over what that meant for Sean, Nikita started towards Naomi with pure rage in her gaze. They had been wrong about the analyst. She wasn't anything like Ryan- overachieving and eager. She was a Gogol plant. And she had been activated just to kill Sean.
"Stay with Sean!" Nikita ordered Alex as she attacked Naomi. Alex didn't plan on going anywhere; though, she did find it difficult to focus while a fight to the death was happening beside her. Nikita, thankfully, moved the fight into the wall. Yet that didn't even remotely solve their problems. Alex screeched into her coms for Birkhoff to help her. The drug cocktail was destroyed before the last vial could be administered. Sean was going to die unless they did something. But what was there to do when Amanda kept ruining their plans.
Birkhoff calmed Alex down as best he could. It wasn't all lost yet. She was in a morgue. There had to be the correct drug and a syringe somewhere. She could administer it to Sean herself. He'd wake up, and it'd all be okay. Trying not to be too frantic, Alex searched for the right lifesaving elixir. She soon found it, yet Sean had begun to seize. Again, Birkhoff had to calm her down. If she waited any longer, she really would lose him. She had to focus and stay strong. Sean needed her more than ever.
With a deep breath of air, Alex administered the drug per Birkhoff's instructions. As soon as it was in his veins, she tossed aside the syringe and held him. Nikita burst back into the room, dragging Naomi's dead body behind her. She didn't even attempt to hide her dead body amongst the others in the morgue, nor did she attempt to clean their presence from the scene. She just left the Gogol agent she had killed unceremoniously on the ground and stared at her brother. It took him far too long to move after Alex had given him the last drug. He remained as lifeless as ever. Then, miraculously, he coughed. Alex was instantly all over him, "Hey. Hey. Hey."
"Sonya, add a Jane Doe to the forensics manifest. Michael, we're ready for extraction," While Alex kissed Sean in relief, Nikita spoke hollowly into her com. She helped Alex wheel Sean out of the morgue and into the waiting Division van without another word. She didn't speak to her brother; she hardly even looked at him. She simply grabbed his hand, held it tightly, and refused to leave his side. She'd have to once they reached Medical. The self-inflicted gunshot wound in his shoulder needed to be healed, and the doctors had to make certain there weren't any lingering effects from the revival process. But until then, she couldn't let go.
When they were back in Division, medics came to whisk Sean away. Nikita and Alex had to be forced back. They could see him once everything was cleared. It was suggested that in the meantime they should debrief and explain what had happened with Naomi. But neither could move from the hallway in Medical. Their shock and anxiety had caught up to them, and they were left shaking and numb. Alex was eventually the first to move. She surged towards her best friend and wrapped her in a tight embrace. Nikita lightly held her in return. She tried her best to be comforting, yet it didn't sound right. She was still hollow, "You okay?"
"Yeah," Holding her best friend tighter, Alex sighed. She wasn't entirely okay, yet she also wasn't not okay. She was so relieved that Sean was alive. He was still breathing, and she could still hold him in her arms. Saving him, however, had been absolute hell. And it would probably be hellish for a while. Recruitment wasn't an easy transition, especially with the life, family, and friends he had to leave behind. Alex would have to be strong for Sean as she helped guide him through the transition. But the stress and anxiety was so hard not to crumble under. Everything would eventually be fine; it was simply hard to believe.
"You should be there for him when he wakes up," Nikita pulled away from the embrace. Although Alex still clung to her, needing comfort, Nikita looked away and grew distant. She also shook her head at any protest Alex tried to raise. She had made her decision long ago. She couldn't be there for Sean when he woke scared and alone in Division. She shouldn't be the one he saw first, "You're a better comfort to him. And he listens to you more. It's a tough transition. Sean needs someone less… just tell him everything you've ever wanted to tell him but haven't yet. You can give him the peace of mind I can't."
Nikita left Alex standing alone in the Medical hallway. She probably shouldn't have done that. Alex needed comfort; she needed her best friend. But Nikita couldn't hang around. She was going to say something she'd regret if she stayed in Medical any longer. She had to get away. She had to go. Unfortunately, she didn't get far. Michael was waiting for her outside of Medical. He gently grabbed her before she could completely walk away and pulled her into his arms. She wouldn't look at him either. He softly held her and did his best to comfort her, but she tried to slip away from him too. He couldn't even engage her with a tender look and gentle, "Hey."
Peeling her fiancé's hands off her, Nikita continued walking away. Michael fought the instinct to follow. She was too upset to leave alone; someone had to talk to her and ease her thoughts. However, she wasn't ready to listen to anybody yet. She probably wasn't even ready to listen to her own thoughts. It was better to give her a moment to herself, let her breathe and relax on her own. Michael wouldn't let that moment be long, though. He'd ensure Sean and Alex were okay, then he'd race after Nikita. She had spent enough time alone- enough time carrying the whole world on her shoulders. He had to make sure she never was again.